Editorial & Evidence Policy

Our commitment to evidence-based, responsible and transparent health communication

The Vietnam Lifestyle Medicine Alliance (VLMA) is committed to providing professional knowledge that is evidence-based, clinically responsible, transparent and relevant to the Vietnamese context.

The purpose of VLMA's Knowledge & Evidence platform is to help healthcare professionals, educators, researchers, healthcare organizations and other interested readers understand developments in Lifestyle Medicine, critically interpret the evidence, and consider how international knowledge may apply in Viet Nam.

This policy explains how VLMA develops, reviews, references, updates and corrects its professional knowledge resources.

Effective: September 2026
Last reviewed: September 2026

1. Scope and editorial responsibility

VLMA Knowledge & Evidence is an institutional professional knowledge platform. It is not a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and publication on the platform should not be interpreted as equivalent to publication in an independently peer-reviewed academic journal.

Unless otherwise stated, editorial responsibility for VLMA knowledge resources rests with VLMA. Individual articles identify their author or responsible contributor where appropriate.

Subject-matter review may be sought from healthcare professionals, researchers or other experts when a topic requires additional expertise. A reviewer will be identified only when that individual has actually reviewed the material and has agreed to be named.

VLMA will not describe an article as “peer reviewed” unless it has undergone an appropriately defined independent peer-review process.

2. Evidence standards

VLMA aims to base health and medical content on the best relevant evidence reasonably available at the time of publication.

Depending on the question, sources may include systematic reviews and meta-analyses, evidence-based clinical guidelines, consensus statements, major primary research, professional standards, official health statistics, legislation and regulatory documents, and information published by recognized national and international health authorities.

No single study design is automatically appropriate for every question. Evidence is considered in relation to the intervention, population, comparator, outcome, study quality, consistency of findings, applicability and limitations.

Where evidence is uncertain, conflicting, indirect or still emerging, VLMA aims to make that uncertainty clear rather than present a premature conclusion as established fact.

Preprints, conference abstracts, press releases and commercial materials may occasionally be relevant to emerging developments, but they will not normally be treated as equivalent to peer-reviewed evidence. Their status should be made clear when they are used.

3. Evidence is not the same as interpretation

VLMA distinguishes, as far as practical, between what the evidence shows, how that evidence is interpreted, and what it may mean in a particular context.

An association does not automatically establish causation. Evidence that a behavior is associated with better health does not necessarily demonstrate that every intervention designed to change that behavior will produce the same outcome.

Claims about prevention, treatment, remission, reversal or risk reduction should therefore reflect the condition, population and strength of evidence to which they actually apply.

VLMA seeks to avoid exaggerating benefits, minimizing uncertainty, presenting relative risk without adequate context, or implying that an emerging intervention is established simply because it is described as natural, personalized, preventive or lifestyle-based.

4. From global evidence to the Vietnamese context

International evidence is an important foundation, but evidence does not exist outside context.

Healthcare systems, professional roles, culture, food environments, working conditions, affordability, social determinants of health, environmental exposures and available resources can all affect how an intervention works in practice.

VLMA therefore aims to distinguish international evidence from evidence generated specifically in Viet Nam. When Vietnamese data are unavailable, this limitation should be acknowledged rather than assuming that findings from another population can be transferred directly.

Where relevant, VLMA gives priority to reliable Vietnamese sources including competent government authorities, the Ministry of Health, official statistics, Vietnamese legislation and regulatory documents, peer-reviewed Vietnamese research and authoritative international organizations working in Viet Nam.

Adaptation to the Vietnamese context does not mean changing scientific conclusions to fit local preferences. It means examining how evidence can be understood and implemented responsibly within local healthcare, cultural, professional and regulatory realities.

5. Clinical and professional responsibility

VLMA knowledge resources are intended for professional education and knowledge exchange. They do not constitute individualized medical advice and do not replace clinical assessment, professional judgment or applicable clinical guidelines.

Educational content does not expand a healthcare professional's legal scope of practice.

International terminology, educational qualifications and professional certifications do not by themselves create a Vietnamese professional title, practice licence, healthcare-facility licence or expanded professional scope.

Where an article discusses diagnosis, treatment, medication, clinical testing or other regulated healthcare activities, VLMA aims to distinguish professional education from individualized clinical recommendations and to respect applicable Vietnamese professional and regulatory boundaries.

6. Authorship and contributors

Authorship signifies intellectual responsibility, not merely participation in a project.

Individuals identified as authors should have made a meaningful intellectual contribution to the work, participated in drafting or substantive review, approved the published version and accepted responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of their contribution.

Individuals who contribute specialist review, data collection, technical assistance, language editing, design or administrative support but do not meet the criteria for authorship may instead be acknowledged where appropriate.

VLMA does not create fictitious editorial roles or list individuals as scientific reviewers when they have not actually reviewed the content.

7. Review process

The level of review may differ according to the nature and risk of the content.

General explainers may receive editorial and source verification. Articles containing substantial clinical interpretation, emerging evidence, legal or regulatory analysis, or specialized technical claims may receive additional subject-matter review where appropriate and feasible.

Original research, surveys, implementation reports and case-based publications may require additional methodological, ethical or legal considerations depending on their design.

Publication by VLMA does not imply endorsement by every member, advisor, partner or affiliated organization unless this is explicitly stated.

8. Conflicts of interest and funding

Authors, reviewers and editorial contributors should disclose financial or non-financial relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the content.

A relationship or interest does not automatically invalidate an author's contribution. Transparency allows readers to make an informed judgment about potential influence.

Funding, sponsorship or commercial relationships must not determine scientific conclusions, suppress relevant evidence, or give a sponsor control over the interpretation of evidence.

Sponsored or financially supported content, when accepted, should be clearly identified. Sponsorship of VLMA or a VLMA activity does not purchase favorable editorial coverage or clinical recommendations.

9. Commercial independence

VLMA separates scientific and professional content from commercial promotion.

Products, services, diagnostic tests, medicines, supplements, devices, digital technologies or commercial programs are not considered effective or appropriate merely because they are associated with Lifestyle Medicine, prevention, wellness, personalized health or another health-related label.

Where specific commercial products or services are discussed, their inclusion should be justified by the educational purpose of the article rather than commercial consideration.

Advertising or sponsorship should be recognizable as such and should not be presented in a way that could reasonably be confused with independent editorial conclusions.

10. Use of artificial intelligence

VLMA may use artificial intelligence-assisted tools to support tasks such as information organization, literature discovery, drafting support, language editing, translation, metadata development or visual production.

Artificial intelligence is not treated as an author, reviewer or scientific authority.

Human authors or editors remain responsible for verifying factual claims, checking primary sources, assessing scientific and clinical relevance, correcting errors, ensuring appropriate attribution and approving the final published content.

Artificial intelligence-generated output is not accepted as a primary source of scientific or medical evidence.

Where artificial intelligence has materially contributed to published text, analysis, figures or visual content beyond routine language or technical assistance, VLMA may disclose this use where relevant to transparency and interpretation.

AI-generated or AI-assisted illustrative images are used as illustrations and should not be interpreted as documentary photographs, clinical evidence or representations of actual patients unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Confidential patient information, unpublished confidential research or other protected information should not be entered into artificial intelligence systems unless appropriate safeguards, permissions and legal requirements have been addressed.

11. References and source transparency

VLMA aims to provide sufficient references for readers to identify the principal evidence supporting important clinical, scientific, statistical or regulatory claims.

Where possible, original research, official documents and primary authoritative sources are preferred over summaries, media reports or secondary commentary.

References are selected for relevance and quality rather than simply for quantity.

A citation indicates that a source supports the associated statement. It does not necessarily mean that VLMA endorses every conclusion or position contained in that source.

12. Publication dates, review dates and updates

Important Knowledge & Evidence resources should display a publication date and, where appropriate, a Last reviewed or Last updated date.

VLMA may update an article when new evidence, clinical guidance, regulation or other material information changes the accuracy or interpretation of the content.

Minor editorial changes, spelling corrections or formatting changes do not necessarily require a new review date.

Material updates that alter an important conclusion should be made transparently where practical.

13. Corrections

VLMA welcomes notification of possible factual, scientific or regulatory errors.

When a meaningful error is confirmed, VLMA aims to correct it promptly. Where the correction materially changes the interpretation of an article, the nature and date of the correction may be identified.

Content should not be silently altered in a way that materially changes its original meaning without appropriate transparency.

If a publication becomes seriously unreliable, misleading or inappropriate to retain in its original form, VLMA may withdraw or archive it with an explanation.

14. Independence, disagreement and evolving evidence

Reasonable scientific disagreement is part of evidence-based healthcare.

VLMA does not require evidence to support a predetermined Lifestyle Medicine position. Credible findings that question commonly accepted practices or identify limitations, uncertainty, lack of benefit or possible harms deserve appropriate consideration.

The purpose of Knowledge & Evidence is not to prove that Lifestyle Medicine is always effective. It is to help distinguish what is well supported, what remains uncertain, what may be context-dependent, and what requires further research.

Recommendations and interpretations may therefore change as the evidence develops.

15. Research, surveys and implementation work

When VLMA publishes original research, surveys, program evaluations, quality-improvement work or implementation reports, the nature of the work should be clearly described.

Relevant requirements concerning ethics review, informed consent, privacy, data governance, research registration and reporting standards should be considered according to the design of the project and applicable Vietnamese law.

Quality-improvement, educational and implementation activities should not be represented as formal research when they do not meet the relevant criteria, and research should not be represented as clinical guidance solely because it was conducted under the VLMA name.

16. Reader feedback and questions

VLMA welcomes corrections, questions, relevant evidence and constructive professional disagreement.

Readers who identify a potential error, an important missing source or a material conflict of interest are encouraged to contact VLMA through its official communication channels. Substantive concerns will be reviewed and, where appropriate, corrections or updates will be made.

Our editorial principle

VLMA's goal is not to publish the greatest volume of health information.

Our goal is to develop a reliable body of professional knowledge that helps connect evidence, clinical responsibility and the realities of healthcare in Viet Nam.

Scientific credibility depends not only on what we publish, but also on our willingness to identify uncertainty, correct errors, disclose relevant interests and change our conclusions when better evidence becomes available.